Friday, July 25, 2014

If you don't want to wear a chameleon suit into an Oblivion Plane, then one way to reduce the damage from the fire traps (you know, those towers that shoot fire at you and ignore fire protection) is to enchant pieces with spell absorb. I read that the fire traps are considered spells, so if you can get hold of three or four Transcendent sigil stones then you can enchant pieces of jewelry with spell absorb. Of course, you can find pieces in Oblivion that have spell absorb, so if you can find some of them, and then get the stone, then you can concoct 100% spell absorb. This will work for your character if you choose to be born under the Atronach too. This birthsign grants 150 to your magicka, but you cannot regenerate it. Therefore, you either need to visit wayshrines or Ayleid wells to restore your magicka. You will already have a 50% chance to absorb any spells cast at you, so adding a piece or two to boost this will certainly help. You can also carry a few welkynd stones (though they do weigh 1 each, so be careful how many you carry) as they restore all of your magicka, but then disappear when you use them. I'd use them if you're in a dungeon, are low on magicka and need it right then. The Lucky Old Lady statue in Bravil is also a good place to restore your magicka. Interact with the statue and you have a 50-50 chance to absorb the spell if you're not wearing any enchanted thing to boost those odds. And you can do this as many times as you like, which is better than using a well and then having to wait for it to recharge before you can use it again. And the only way you can reuse wayshrines is if you have the Knights of the Nine plugin installed.

Now, how can you get the sigil stone that you want? Make a custom save just before you snatch the stone (after you've killed all the monsters and are standing there ready to grab it is best). Name it Sigil so you know which one it is. Then save there just before you grab the stone. Pause the game when you get the stone, and then check to see what it is. If you don't want it, then reload that save and try again. The stone given is always random, so you can keep trying until you get something you can use. And you'd only need one of them, because you can then multiply them using the scroll trick.

What's the scroll trick? First you need at least two identical spell scrolls (doesn't matter what they're for, just as long as they're a spell scroll) and one of any other spell scroll. Then click on the two identical scrolls, immediately drop the one scroll and you'll have two scrolls on the ground. Pick up one of the dropped scrolls and repeat. I like to get about ten identical scrolls this way and then use that stack to multiply things.

Now things that won't multiply are damaged/repaired weapons and armor, nirnroot and some other things. But most undamaged weapons and armor, and most rings, clothing and alchemical ingredients/food will multiply. Oh, and those born under the Atronach can use this trick to multiply welkynd or varla stones (which recharge all of your enchanted weapons you have in your inventory)

Okay, why would you want to do this? Well, it's handy if you're low on arrows or you find a few enchanted ones in loot that you want to keep using. Just make some more. Need cash really fast? Enchant cheap clothes and then multiply them and sell them. Multiply any enchanted jewelry you have and sell the extras. Enchant plain jewelry, multiply it and sell it. Keep one of each in a special spot and repeat any time you need money.

The only way you can multiply the zero weight armor though is to use the (if you're on a pc) console to put each piece in your inventory, that way it's undamaged. Remember, you have to either damage/repair it to drop it, or cast/repair if your armorer skill is expert and lets you repair beyond 100%. Either way, you've repaired it, so you can't multiply it. I did this once, to get pieces to put different spells on for different occasions and still be able to carry it all. Cheating? Yes. Do I much care? No. It's my game, I'll play it how I like. I mostly play regular anyway, and just cheat when I need to carry a crapload of loot to the stores to sell, or when I'm carrying a crapload of daedric stuff out of Oblivion planes. Yes, I want all that daedric stuff, it goes for a ton of gold at the stores. I even go through the motions of getting the zero weight stuff by either using spells or the magical stones that give them when you activate them. It's just much easier to get your armorer up to 75 and repair rather than try to find something to damage it for you before you can repair it.

Yes, we've all seen these things. They range from things to make hairdos easier to do, to things to spray in cracks to make things waterproof, to copper-infused joint wraps.

As far as I can tell, none of the "As seen on TV" stuff is any better than things you can already get in the store and not pay astronomical shipping prices . Copper on the outside of the body does nothing. You have to ingest it to get it's benefits.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Or as most people call them, boneless sirloin steak. Ricky went out to work on someone's car and came back with two he found in the store's discount pile, you know, the stuff they mark down to try to sell before its sell-by date. The person apparently gave him the wrong address and he can't get hold of them, so he's going o make steak instead. No complaints from me.

So, on to other topics. I've been putting up little hints about a few games I like. Lately I've been playing a lot of STO, and am just getting back into Oblivion as well. My friend wants me to play Fallout 3 as well, but I never could get into that one. I only got it because it was sold in a set with Oblivion. Well, everyone has their games that they like and maybe one day I'll give it another try.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is supposed to be coming out in a couple of months. I'll have to wait till the price comes down before I can even think about buying it. That's the way it is around here, I get the game long after everyone else has already played it. I don't mind, I'm not one who has to have a game the minute it comes out. I'll have fun with the other DA games I have. Plus Oblivion, plus STO.

I like Oblivion for one reason only. I don't *have* to go through the main story, and even when I do, I can still play after my character 'saves the day'. It's an entire virtual life that's much more adventurous than the ordinary one I have and I can even play totally different species, such as anthropomorphic lizards and lions. Honestly, I'm human every day of the week, so why not play a humanoid lizard or cat in a virtual world? Same with STO. I have a Klingon, a Caitian, a Ferasan, a Romulan, an alien. Of course I also have a token human character too. I'm also thinking of another alien, one that a friend and I made up in one of our fanfics we're always writing. It will take some fiddling with the character creation, but we can get decent-looking ones out of it since we've been practicing with making alien BOFFs. Green skin, humanoid-looking, pointed ears, blue stripes (though only on the face, haven't figured out if I can get body stripes yet.